Hold On To The Way We Started,
by Oh-Juice
Summary: Finn and Quinn reconnect.


Quinn stared back at her reflection in the mirror as she ran a brush softly through her blonde hair, a light frown posed on her face. Sometimes she did this; she just looked back at herself and thought wordlessly. It felt odd being the eyes that were both giving and recieving that judgemental look that she so often gave people as she walked by them in the halls, and it kept her down to earth. Sure, she acted like a bitch once in a while, but she really did have a heart, and she knew she had flaws. It was more clear about that now that she was off of cheerios, at least, to the glee club it was. She wasn't so sure about everyone else. She was still known as the backstabbing bitch of a girlfriend who cheated on her seemingly perfect boyfriend-

She cringed lightly and her eyes fell from the mirror as she stopped herself. She tried not to think about him as much lately. Finn Hudson. He was her first serious boyfriend, and her last, it seemed. Well, besides Puck. Her and him had started to date after they adopted out Beth, but she wasn't so sure about it. She didn't have high hopes. Once a man-whore, always a man-whore, she thought to herself and let out a bit of a sigh before looking through her closet for acceptable clothing for a date night. That night seemed pretty depressing, honestly, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to go out. But she would; her and Puck had made plans at Olive Garden (oh, the class) and she wouldn't just ditch him there. Actually, that would be pretty entertaining. No, no, you need to meet him there.

"Won't fit, won't fit..." Quinn's clothes didn't fit her well anymore. After the baby, she thought that on Sue's formula of maple syrup, water, and sugar, she'd get right back into shape. It proved to be a harder battle than originally planned. She used to be a perfect hourglass, a boy's wet dream. Now she was... Well, not fat, but she could lose a few pounds. Gain a few more and i'll start to look like Rupaul, she thought to herself about Rachel with an inward groan. Taking out a light sundress, which was about her only dress left that fit her well, Quinn slipped the garment on before giving Mercedes a quick sweet smile and a wave out the door. "Going out, be back near ten?"

"Quinn, you might wanna come in here..." Mercedes responded, seeming a little bit tense. Living in Mercedes' house for about three months, Quinn knew that she didn't use that tone often. She didn't even think she'd heard her use it before then.

Taken aback by the serious tone she'd used, Quinn took a step back into the doorway and then a few toward her. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah- Well... Naw, I think I might have'ta tell you something... But don't shoot the messenger, okay?" Mercedes gave her a weak smile before it quickly turned into a more concerned face. "Well... Being the most in-on-the-gossip gal in school, I hear everything that happens. And well... Puck and 'Tana? They happened."

Quinn's eyes squinted the slightest bit and she felt her jaw drop. "Excuse me?" She asked, before re-perfecting her posture. "'Tana? as in SAN'tana?" Why did this come as that much of a surprise to her? Of course he and her were hooking up. Even after what he'd said to her? "I really feel something with you, Quinn. I mean, not like I feel with all those other hos and skanks that I get with, but something that might actually mean something." Bullshit. She felt her little hands curl into coils as she fought back the urge to cry. She wouldn't cry, at least, not in front of most people. She put herself off as a strong person, and crying showed weakness. But in front of Mercedes? She'd seen Quinn when almost no-one had. During labor, even. So, when she felt a tear roll down her cheek, she didn't try to hold it back.. Why the hell did she trust him with her heart in the first place? Because she thought he'd changed, that maybe it was different from the beginning of the year. "After a baby, after everything... He's still just an immature [i]boy[/i]. Just when I thought he was turning into a man, too..." Quinn let out a light half-hearted chuckle as another droplet ran down her cheek. "Are you sure?" She asked softly.

"Very. The whole school knows..."

Half of Quinn was a little angry at Mercedes for being direct about it, while the other half was thankful for it. At least she wouldn't be finding all this out from Treasure Trail or anyone else around school. Or, even worse, Jacob Ben Israel's blog. He'd be all over this... The Jew-fro'ed creep. "Great, so now I'm stupid and a laughing stock." So she'd been cheated on and humiliated, all in one harsh blow. That was wonderful. By Santana, no less. Quinn hated that girl by now. She'd sexted Puck while they were supposed to be on a date, dated her ex, and according to the school grapevine, done more than just dated him. Finn was a good person; he was innocent and pure in the eyes of the lord, and now Santana had gone and taken his most precious gift away from him like it was absolutely nothing. It made her blood boil. Who did she think she was?

Great, she was thinking about him again, even then.

"Oh, honey.." Mercedes frowned and took the girl into a hug, letting Quinn sink her arms and head around her neck loosely as she let another tear roll down her cheek.

She never did go out that night.

"Did you hear about that Fabray girl again? Seems like Puckerman got bored of her just like he does the rest of them."

"I knew she was nothing special. Nothing can stop Puckzilla."

"First a baby, now this? That girl needs to learn to keep her legs and mouth shut, if you ask me."

Finn was tired of hearing about all of it. Not only did he dislike hearing about Quinn, he disliked hearing about Puck too. And them together? Yeah, you could guess that it wouldn't be a good combination. But it seemed like every corner he turned at, someone was talking about the drama that had happened between them. For some reason, Finn couldn't bring himself to listen though. Why should he? He went through ten times any amount of hell she or he could be going through, he thought to himself. Not to mention... He was happy now.

Why should he even dwell on all of that stuff? He had a girlfriend who he loved... Well, he loved her. She'd never exactly said it back though, and he didn't know why. It was really starting to bother him, because every time he'd say it, she'd just respond with, "That's sweet," or, "Thanks," or he'd just tune out. He didn't understand. When they weren't together, she was ready to practically jump him, and when they were, she couldn't even squeeze out the "L" word.

"Hey Finn, did you hear-"

"YES, I HEARD ABOUT QUINN AND PUCK." Finn responded in a harsher tone than he'd originally planned at Karofsky as he walked by him. A sneer appeared on the boy's face as Finn turned back to him.

"Cool it, Hudson!"

He slammed his locker shut to see Rachel standing next to it with a little bit of a scared look to her face, and jumped. God, he hated it when she did that.

"Finn, are you feeling alright? Is something bothering you that you would like to talk about or maybe sing about?" She asked, putting a cautionary hand on his arm and looking up at him, clearly concerned.

Finn shook his head simply and glanced away for a second. He couldn't talk to her about how this was making him feel, somewhat because he didn't really know what he was feeling. He didn't want to say jealousy... Because it wasn't. He didn't want to say vengance, because that wasn't it either. He was just feeling confused on why he couldn't let this go, and if he told Rachel about it, she would assume that he was jealous of Quinn or that he was still hung up on her, which he wasn't.

Or at least, he was almost 99% that he wasn't.

"I think I ate a bad breakfast burrito."

Rachel nodded with a frown, not seeming sold on it, but let it go. "Well, if you need to talk, Finn, you know I'm always here for you. So, I was thinking, for our next Glee duet, maybe we can do some sort of number from- "

"Babe, can I talk to you later? I really got to get to my gym class." Lie.

"-Oh, um, sure. I don't want to be late for Spanish class either; that might bring be down to a A- or something terrible. I don't mind, I guess." Lie.

"Cool, I'll call you after school." Lie.

Finn put on a convincing charming half-grin that he reserved for her and gave her a quick peck on the lips before walking off. As soon as his back turned to her, he went from chaming to flat again. Okay, he needed to do something about this. He couldn't just go on feeling like shit because god knows how he felt about this Puck and Quinn incident that had happened with Santana. He was about to slip into one of the lockerroom's showers for a quick ice-water wake up for school since he felt pretty much brain-dead (weird for finn, right?), but then he noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his locker.

He took a step or two near his locker before giving a glance around. Was this some sort of prank? He bends down to read the paper and they spill something on him or something stupid that the jocks at McKinley could so easily do? He thought it was macaronni friday, so he didn't want to get those stains out of his clothes if they tried dumping that on him... After he was convinced that he wasn't being watched, Finn took the note out of the slot and unfolded it.

We should talk. Q

Q. Quinn. Finn's jaw dropped a little as he read it. After a pause, he carefully re-folded the note and put it in his gym pants' pocket before walking back over to his shower.

He took a step into the freezing mist of water.

By the end, his head felt numb.

It didn't wear off. 


End file.
